[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 75 (Thursday, April 18, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 19273]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-9516]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Child Labor Education Initiative

AGENCY: Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of 
Labor.

ACTION: Notice of intent to publish solicitations for cooperative 
agreement applications.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), Bureau of International 
Labor Affairs (ILAB), intents to award up to U.S. $17 million to 
organizations to develop and implement formal, non-formal, and 
vocational education programs as a means to combat exploitative child 
labor in Togo, Zambia, Peru, Bolivia, and Pakistan, and to encourage 
innovative approaches to increase access to basic education around the 
world (Education Innovations Grant). ILAB will publish solicitations 
for cooperative agreement applications from qualified organizations to 
implement programs that promote school attendance and provide 
educational opportunities for working children or children at risk of 
working. The programs should focus on innovative ways to address the 
many gaps and challenges to basic education found in the countries 
mentioned above.

DATES: The solicitations for cooperative agreement applications will be 
published in the Federal Register on or before September 30, 2002. 
Interested parties should regularly check the Federal Register for 
actual publishing dates of future solicitations and may submit an 
application up to 30 days after the date of publication.

ADDRESS: Once Solicitations are published in the Federal Register, 
applications must be delivered to: U.S. Department of Labor, 
Procurement Services Center, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N-5416, 
Attention: Lisa Harvey, Washington, DC 20210.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Harvey. E-mail address: [email protected]. All inquiries should make reference to the USDOL Child 
Labor Education Initiative--Solicitations for Cooperative Agreement 
Applications.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since 1995 and as mandated by the U.S. 
Congress, USDOL has supported a worldwide technical assistance program 
implemented by the International Labor Organization's International 
Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO/IPEC). USDOL 
contributions to date to ILO/IPEC have amounted to over $112 million, 
making the United States the program's largest donor and the leader in 
global efforts to combat child labor.
    In USDOL's FY 2001 appropriations, in addition to $45 million in 
funds earmarked for ILO/IPEC, USDOL received $37 million for an 
Education Initiative that will fund programs that increase access to 
quality basic education in areas with a high incidence of abusive and 
exploitative child labor. The cooperative agreement(s) awarded under 
this solicitation will be funded by this new initiative.
    USDOL's Education Initiative nurtures the development, health, 
safety, and enhanced future employability of children around the world 
by increasing access to basic education for children removed from child 
labor or at risk of entering it. Eliminating child labor will depend in 
part on improving access to, quality of, and relevance of education. 
Without improving educational quality and relevance, children withdrawn 
from child labor may not have viable alternatives and may return to 
work or resort to other hazardous, unhealthy means of subsistence.
    The Education Initiative has the following four goals:

    1. Raise awareness of the importance of education for all 
children and mobilize a wide array of actors to improve and expand 
education infrastructures;
    2. Strengthen formal and transitional education systems that 
encourage working children and those at risk of working to attend 
school;
    3. Strengthen national institutions and policies on education 
and child labor; and
    4. Ensure the long-term sustainability of these efforts.

    The objective of the USDOL's involvement in increasing access to 
quality basic education is to complement existing efforts to eradicate 
the worst forms of child labor, to build on the achievements of and 
lessons learned from these efforts, to expand impact and build 
synergies, and to avoid duplication of resources and efforts.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 15th day of April, 2002.
Lawrence J. Kuss,
Grant Officer.
[FR Doc. 02-9516 Filed 4-17-02; 8:45 am]
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